


sit back and kick soda cans

by joeri



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Coming Out, Gen, Genderfluid Character, Internalized Transphobia, Lowercase, Q slur, Trans Character, Trans Male Character, Trans Momota Kaito, Trans Shinguji Korekiyo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-10
Updated: 2018-08-10
Packaged: 2019-06-24 16:29:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15634440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joeri/pseuds/joeri
Summary: reconcile. learn.





	sit back and kick soda cans

“i say… stupid shit, when i’m scared,” kaito admits mere moments before his gut twists around the knife he’s just stuffed away there. “m-maybe not scared so much as— uncomfortable.”

strangely, momota kaito stumbles over his minced words. korekiyo waves a pale hand in a manner kaito can only describe as _anemic._ a brusque wind could knock him five blocks down the street easily. his saving graces are that they live in a cul-de-sac, and that kaito would readily grab him now if he were to take a tumble from the curb where they’re sat.

“i would actually prefer to think that ‘scared’ is more appropriate for what you went through,” the anthropologist insists in what is a _spectacular_ submission in the running for the most confusing thing kaito’s ever heard. “i do not believe i disgusted you so much as i made you aware of your own feelings— the ones you had tried so desperately to suppress in yourself. you were not frightened of me, momota-kun, but of your own queerness.”

those words climb up through kaito’s ribs, wrapping around his restricted lungs. the way it burns into his sternum feels like blood— feels like rot and feels like… unwanted company. lifting his lukewarm can of coke to his lips, kaito gazes into the horizon where the sun peeks out from behind a row of neighbouring homes sat in the orange glow of dusk. he speaks softer than he normally knows how to.

“i’on’t… i’ont know if i can say that kinda thing,” he says.

korekiyo seems to chuckle in that breathy way he does, like he’s got a house of cards jammed in his throat. the wind whistles through them, bristly, and he traces his gloved fingers around the rim of his coke zero.

“kukuku… i can understand how you must feel now, riddled with shame. such is the human condition when we transform into something greater, different than we were before. i think it’s beautiful, momota-kun, your transformation.”

ogling korekiyo from the corner of his eye, kaito can’t help but slant his mouth, frowning obliquely as he halfway hides his face behind aluminum and bad breath.

“yeah?” he asks. “you don’t… you don’t resent me, or nothin’?”

when the words fall out slow and anxious, syrupy and sticky, korekiyo blinks with intrigue and turns toward the other boy— absorbed.

“oh? should i?”

grimacing, kaito spits when he speaks.

“w-well, i don’t really… want to be resented for this, but i-i’d understand. i mean, i wasn’t…” he trails off, pouting his lips and thinking his shoelaces would fit better around his neck than his feet. “i’d been ignorant.”

“most people are, momota-kun,” confesses korekiyo. “it is the acknowledgement that is important.”

kaito’s eyes anchor themselves on the unopened can in korekiyo’s digits, carefully witnessing the way he keeps his mask fitted tight and presumably denies himself the pleasure. smothered with guilt, kaito pushes his cheek into his hand and peers into the front porch of his house. it’s decidedly not where korekiyo sits.

“hm.”

and soon, “y-you know, you can unzip your mask or… or pull it down around me. i’m— i don’t think it’s weird.”

“well, at this point i would hope not, but i will never deny myself the pleasure of reassurance.”

squinting at the front porch swing, the way it sways and remembering summer dresses around his kneecaps, kaito flinches and feels a chill at his back. his eyes glaze over with an emotion he can’t understand and his throat vacuum seals around the rock sat there.

“i think i… i just got terrified that people would think we’re the same.”

korekiyo tilts his head back and his hair splashes like a fountain all down his back. his pierced ears dangle. his makeup is unsmeared. his cheekbones, high and mighty do nothing but good for him, and when kaito glances back at him, he wonders why he ever thought that’d be a bad thing.

and then korekiyo hums.

“our experiences are not the same, yes. the desire to create distinction is not unheard of. you do not want lipstick, skirts or shaved legs.”

the soda can cracks and fizzles betwixt his leather fingers.

“but, did you think that denying my existence would further validate yours?” korekiyo asks. “did you think that seeking council with those of the cis persuasion over those who share a similar disposition would make them like you more?”

the rock drops. it shakes the core of him and kaito trembles. he _trembles._

remembering the first time he’d been shoved into a locker, kaito winces. remembering the first time he’d made another guy laugh when he joked about some (hot?) girl in his first period class, kaito _chokes._

remembering the third time he’d noticed korekiyo taking an extended absence from class, his desk by the window all but ghostly and haunted by his tormented memory, kaito grows a thousand times smaller, humbler. his knees knock together like drum sticks to a snare.

“ahah… you’re right.”

the coke can in his fist caves in on itself.

korekiyo unzips his mask. he sips and leaves a stain in the metal.

“then i do not hate you.”

“but why?”

setting the can down beside the curb, korekiyo regards kaito plainly.

“because you know now.”

smiling something sick and guilty, kaito drops his own can. it clinks, hollow.

“m’sorry.”

the way korekiyo smiles back can only be seen in his eyes, but they glitter in a manner most delightful. kaito thinks it’s trusting, like stardust in a ghost galaxy.

**Author's Note:**

> i love both of them. not many ppl do.
> 
> i played the english release of ndrv3 and did not know about his one line in the jpn release for a long time. i don't associate/write that kaito since i hadnt seen it until months after i'd finished the game and formed my opinions on him but, wanted to write this anyways.


End file.
